Y ? Y? Y?

Back in the late 1950's the DOH decided to make a Y out of the intersection of Alt. 10 and Route 10. This was just shortly before I got my first driver's license. Previously there was just Alt. 10 being a narrow two lane road that came to a perpendicular end at Route 10, another narrow two lane road, with a stop sign for Alt. 10.

There were occasional serious crashes due to this configuration, as both are state highways and carried a fairly high volume of traffic. Alt. 10 was the quick way from Route 10, a north-south route going from Huntington to Logan and beyond to US 60 about three miles away to the northeast. As the Corridors and interstates had not been constructed, it carried all traffic going between those destinations.

With the construction of the Y, the number of, and seriousness of, crashes was lessened dramatically. The Y had a lane from Route 10 northbound onto Alt. 10
with a corresponding lane for Route 10 southbound traffic off Alt. 10. At the same time, the Y also had one lane for northeast bound Alt. 10 traffic coming off Route 10 with a corresponding lane for northbound traffic onto Route 10 off Alt. 10. And of course it also had lanes for northbound and southbound traffic on Route 10. Simple. There were stop signs for all traffic coming off Alt. 10 onto Route 10 and a stop sign for southbound traffic turning onto Alt. 10, at the end of the Y.

Simple, easy to enter and exit and the end result was the speed up of all traffic with few crashes as long as people obeyed the stop signs. There were a few horrific crashes, as with any intersection where through traffic has the right of way and some people will always attempt to beat the oncoming traffic. But, all in all, a very safe intersection, certainly an improvement over the straight line perpendicular stops.

Then came the advent of rolling stops. And the number of crashes increased. And drivers who normally stop for stop signs learned to slow down before traversing the Y, particularly paying attention to the south-bounds turning onto Alt. 10 and the northbound Alt. 10's turning onto Route 10. Why those in particular, I can't say, only that that was the way it was.

About a month ago, someone in the DOH approved a change in the intersection, back to the old perpendicular configuration. With disastrous results. The Y was ripped out and the old style intersection was reinstalled. And last week a man from Logan County was killed and his wife seriously injured when they pulled out into the path of a northbound ambulance.

Now let me tell you about how the intersection was rebuilt. They left in the lane for right turns off Alt. 10 for northbound traffic. The lanes were wide. And a stop sign was placed at the far right, in the grass at the right side of the right turn lane, out of the normal vision of the driver wanting to make a left turn to go south on Route 10. I know, I drive the road almost every day and for two days I looked for a stop sign. I finally found it, hidden behind some other signs. And I only found it because I live about a half-mile from the intersection, I knew that I had to stop. There was only that one obscure sign, no warning that a stop was required ahead anywhere on Alt. 10.

The Route 10 to Alt. 10 route is one favored by drivers of semis coming north on Route 10 and heading toward the interstate going east from Barboursville and for US 60 commercial traffic. They did not widen that lane, instead forcing semis to make a swerve into the southbound lanes of Route 10 to make the turn. And even then, they would come into the lane for those wishing to make a left turn southbound. The intersection is slightly banked as it is in a slight rounding curve, so anyone making a turn left onto Route 10 or a right off Route 10 is somewhat atilt as they do so.

After the crash, of course, there was an investigation conducted by the Cabell County Sheriff's Department. The result was that the man from Logan County was at fault as he disobeyed the stop sign and pulled out into the path of the northbound ambulance. The report indicated the stop sign was there and was ignored. The Chief Deputy also stated that the reconfiguration of the intersection played no part in the crash.

Strange. Everyone I know has indicated that the reconfiguration was the immediate cause of the crash. They also aver that there was no logical reason to change the intersection, but that enforcement of the existing signs by the Sheriff's Department would have made the intersection safer for all drivers. That, of course, would mean that the deputies would also have to stop. I have personally witnessed deputies driving through the signs without so much as a second glance. But the most ignored of all the signs were the ones controlling? traffic going north on Route 10 off Alt. 10 and controlling? traffic coming from southbound Route 10 onto Alt. 10. Any driver assuming these two signs would be obeyed was placing their life in danger.

Be that as it may, proper enforcement would have cured the problem , or at the least, lessened the incidence. Since it was not done, all drivers now must pay for the disobedience of the few. Typical governmental interference and poor decision making by the DOH.

Now, to the crux--anyone driving in a construction zone must be extra careful and be willing to face abnormal delays. That does not obviate the responsibility of the DOH to ensure that proper signs are placed in the normal view of the driver. A man has died and his wife injured as the direct failure of the DOH to follow required procedures. Since the crash, the stop sign has been moved closer to the lanes of traffic, and, a NEW sign has been placed permanently on the approach to the intersection warning of a stop ahead. A temporary sign is also alongside the approach some one hundred yards prior the the permanent sign warning of the required stop.

I really do appreciate the construction work that has been done to the two major highways, the widening and gravel being added to the edges. But the intersection was fine the way it was. It was an unwise and life threatening decision. It was a wrong decision. There now sits a piece of land some twenty to thirty yards wide and even longer that is completely unused that has been planted in grass. I wonder how much of it will remain, as the semis are using a fair portion of it closest to the road to make their turns. As the guy used to say, I PREDICT--that a turn lane will be added for the semis coming north on Route 10 and turning onto Alt. 10 toward US 60. And that will re-form the Y, except that the left turn lane onto southbound Route 10 will be in the middle , still perpendicular to Route 10, thereby retaining the worst of the redesign, and the worst of the decision.

Funny. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

As an aside--when they widened the road past my house--

The road makes a sharp left turn at the top of the rise above my land. There is a slip on the upper side of the road across from me. They widened the road on my side all the way up to and actually under the guardrail, extending it about a foot-and-a-half. That foot-and-a-half doesn't sound like much, but it was enough to warn a driver who slipped off the road to get the vehicle back into the roadway. Now the driver will just go ahead and hit the guardrail, causing more expense to the driver and the DOH. On the other side, they paved almost into the ditch, and with the gravel, have put the road about four inches higher than it was previously. That I like, as it should divert some of the water away from the road. But when the ditch fills up, which it will, it will allow much more water to pour over the road and down the hill into my yard. So it looks like I will get to install that drainage tile after all.

NOTHING MUCH, JUST TALK

Most of the week has been spent watching the dollars fly out the window from the precipitous drop in the markets. But there are times when a person just has to get up and get outdoors to see the beauty of our area.

I walked out in the yard a while ago, before my last post, and was observing the deer playing in the woods above the creek at the back of the house. Bright sunny day, a little cool, but not crisp yet. The maples are really glorious under the early morning sun. Most of the other trees are showing color too, but the maples just seem to outshine all of them. The dogwoods are turning gray instead of the normal reds we see.

I haven't mowed the whole yard now for about three weeks. I did have to mow the area near the 'swamp' as the grass was up to about five inches or more. It is a fairly large area, between the swing and the fence, probably about 125 feet long and maybe forty or fifty wide. Took me about fifteen minutes on the riding mower. The rain we got was not enough to start the creek flowing again. It did put some water in the creek but the waterholes are still disconnected and there is a pretty heavy layer of leaves over it. I am keeping water in the birdbath for the birds and insects.

Our hummingbirds left about the middle of last week. They were fun while we had them this year, but we only managed to have about five or so. We usually have eight or ten around all summer. With the loss of the hummers, we received a flock of blue jays. Wow, they sure make a racket when they are close to the house , or even in the woods across the creek. Our squirrels have been making inroads on the walnuts for the past couple of weeks, but since the jays came, there haven't been many of the bushy-tails around.

I'm a little worried about one of my fellow bloggers. Her mother has some pretty serious health issues and my blogger buddy hasn't posted for quite some time. I have been praying for her mother and for her both. I sure hope everything turns out ok for them.

We've had birthday parties for grandkids over the past month and, although we have seen our kids, we really haven't had the opportunity to talk much with them. Not withdrawal symptoms, but we do like to sit down with them and talk, and the opportunity just has not been there. Maybe this weekend or next, we hope.

I wanted to get my wife out on the roads to see the scenery some, but she has been working six days a week of late. Paychecks are good, but it sure takes away from time at home or with me and the kids. Plus her physical condition suffers terribly with all the hours on her feet. I was hoping for a long weekend (at least two days worth) but it seems that she will need to work again tomorrow. If she does have to work tomorrow, I think I'll go fishing at the new bridge next to the 4H Camp. Maybe I can go and not catch anything, huh? And even if I do catch something it will go right back into the river.

Time for another cup of coffee.

Next time.

RIDE 'EM, COWBOY

Hang on, it's going to be a rough ride.

It is almost time for the markets to open on this Friday morning, one week since the 'bail out' plan was adopted by Congress and signed by the president. Since that time the markets have nose-dived to the point that the gains of the past few years have been wiped out.

It is too late now to jump ship. The potential profits that may have been made by quick dumps has passed. Most investors are in for a long slide down while the markets adjust to the current crisis. Anyone who has invested in stocks over the long haul has made money. And that will include those who are invested in mutual funds through 401k's and IRA's.

What we are facing right now is the adjustment that had to come as a result of the gross overvaluing of most securities. We are in the middle of a bank crisis and a money market crisis. That has no relationship to the intrinsic values of equity securities. When banks lose their credibility due to poor judgments on credit risks and consequent purchase of junk mortgage securities, the only possible result is, as McCain pointed out a few years ago, a near-catastrophic failure in the system that generates a sense of panic in the speculators.

When the speculators sense a greater risk of loss, their natural inclination is to sell. And sell they have. And when the man on the street sees this happening it generates a sense of panic in them, compounding the problem. Just like lemmings following the first one to break for the sea, so the small investors get in line behind anyone who is running and the result must be an adjustment such as we are now seeing.

But the basic values are still there in the securities of manufacturers and service industries. And most of those are not included in such bellweathers as the Dow, the S&P and the Nasdaq. Solid performers such as local stocks are pretty secure.

The market just opened at 600 down on the Dow. But the credit markets are showing signs of strength today. Oil stocks are way down with the price of crude dropping sharply. The Dow is at a five year low now, at 9:40 AM. There is showing a basically irrational side to all this. And that irrationality can be fatal if it continues.

As indicated, an adjustment was due, whether the credit markets precipitated it or not. The securities markets have been grossly overvalued for the past three or four years. But, hang on. The ride will be rough for a few weeks. We will see extreme lows before it turns.

But it will turn. Once we realize that it is a functional adjustment, had to happen, and will stop and begin to creep back upward we will feel more secure and begin pushing the prices back upward. And it is now 9:45 AM and the Dow has moved upward, reversing the panic at opening and is now at down 164. It will jump all over today and settle near yesterday's close at days end--I think. But even if it drops lower, it is no reason for panic. It is and will be volatile for a few weeks but the turn will come.

Keep the faith. Behind the cloud is the sun. And it will shine again as it has. But we will have cloudy days on occasion. Let us hope the bottom has been reached or is very near and the trend is back to more reasonable levels. But don't expect the 13000 range again for a few years. But year end should show us closer to 10000 than the current 8000.

THERE YOU GO---AGAIN

There you go. There went all the hopes for a full and fair hearing on the 'bailout' bill in the House.

Despite all the hoorah when she took over as Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi just said, "we won't bring it to the floor unless we have the vote." So how does that equate to the 'full and fair" she promised to all America?

More liberal posturing it would seem.

Of course this is the same person who said the Democrats would end the war in Iraq if the voters would just give them a majority in Congress. We see how that went too, huh? The same way as the promised holding the line or decreasing gasoline prices.

I now understand why they call them lie-berals.

NOT EXACTLY

We all remember Honest Abe, the Illinois politician who supposedly never told a lie. Well, we sure know one now who is running for president now and I sometimes wonder if he ever tells the truth. Honesty is the best policy but---

I received an e-mail yesterday and it did shock me just a bit. I do not vouch for everything in it but here it is for your perusal. I have put it into a more presentable form.

Obama's Not Exactlys---

1. Selma got me born. Not exactly. See, your parents had you in 1961. Selma happened in 1965, and so had no effect upon your birth.

2. My father was a goat herder. Not exactly. He was a privileged, well educated youth, who went on to work with the Kenyan government.

3. My father was a proud Freedom Fighter. Not exactly. He was a part of the most corrupt and violent governments Kenya has eve had.

4. My family has strong ties to African freedom. Not exactly. Your cousin, Raila Odinga, has created mass violence in attempting to overturn a legitimate election in 2007 in Kenya. It is the first widespread violence in decades. The current government is pro-American, but Odinga wants to overthrow it and establish Muslim Sharia law. Your half-brother, Abongo Obama, is Odingo's follower. You interrupted your New Hampshire campaigning to speak to Odinga on the phone. Odingo ran for president of Kenya, and when he lost, his followers burned the homes of Christians and then burned men, women and children alive in a church where they had taken refuge. Barack Obama supported his cousin before the campaign process started here in the US.

5. My grandmother has always been a Christian. Not exactly. She does her daily Salat prayers at 5 AM according to her own interview. Not to mention, Christianity would not allow her to have been one of fourteen wives of one man.

6. My name is African Swahili. Not exactly. Your name is Arabic and Baracka (fro which Barack came) means 'blessed' in that language. Hussein is also Arabic as is Obama. BArack Obama is not half-black, but would be the first Arab-American president if elected. His derivation is actually 50% Caucasian, 43.75% Arabic and 6.25% African Negro. While Barack Obama's father was from Kenya, his fathers family were mainly Arabs. Barack Obama's father was only 12.5% African Negro and 87.5% Arab (his father's birth certificate even states he's Arab, not African Negro.)

7. I never practiced Islam. Not exactly. You practiced it daily at school where you were registered as a Muslim and kept that faith for 31 years, until your wife made you change, so you could successfully run for office.

8. My school in Indonesia was Christian. Not exactly. You were registered as a Muslim there and got into trouble in Koranic studies for making faces.

9. I was fluent in Indonesian. Not exactly. Not a single teacher there says that you could speak the language.

10. Because I lived in Indonesia, I have more foreign experience. Not exactly. You were there from the ages of 6 to 10, and couldn't even speak the language.

11. I am stronger on foreign affairs. Not exactly. Except for Africa and the Middle East you have never been anywhere else on the planet and thus have no experience with our closest allies.

12. I blame my early drug use on ethnic confusion. Not exactly. You seemed quite content in high school to be Barry Obama, no mention of Kenya and no mention of struggles to identify yourself. Your classmates dais you were just fine.

13. An EBONY article moved me to run for office. Not exactly. EBONY has yet to find the article you mentioned in your book.

14. A LIFE Magazine article changed my outlook on life. Not exactly. LIFE also cannot find the article you mention in your book. Apparently neither it, nor the EBONY article exists, or ever did exist.

15. I won't run on a national ticket in '08. Not exactly. Here you are, despite saying, live on tv, that you would not have enough experience by then, and you are all about having experience first.

16. Voting 'present' is common in the Illinois state senate. Not exactly. Although it seems common for you, not a single other senator has ever racked up 130 of them.

17. Oops, I misvoted. Not exactly. Only when caught by church groups and Democrats, did you beg to be allowed to change your 'misvote.'

18. I was a professor of law. Not exactly. You were a senior lecturer on leave.

19. I was a constitutional lawyer. Not exactly. You wee a senior lecturer on leave.

20. Without me there would be no ethics bill. Not exactly. You did not write it, introduce it, change it or create it.

21. The ethics bill was hard to pass. Not exactly. It took only 14 days from start to passage.

22. I wrote a tough nuclear bill. Not exactly. Your bill was rejected by your own party for its pandering and lack of all regulation--mainly because of your nuclear donor, Exelon, and David Axelrod.

23. I have released my state records. Not exactly. As of March 2008, state bills you sponsored or voted for have yet to be released, exposing all the special interest pork hidden within.

24. I took on the asbestos Altgeld Gardens mess. Not exactly. You were simply one of a great number of persons who remedied Altgeld Gardens. You failed to mention that anyone else was involved in your book.

25. My economics bill will help America, Not exactly. Your 111 economic policies were combined into a proposal which lost by a vote of 99-0, with even YOU voting against it.

26. I have been a bold leader in Illinois. Not exactly. Even your own supporters claim to have never seen BOLD action on your part.

27. I passed 26 of my own bills in one year. Not exactly. They were not YOUR bills, but rather were handed to you, after creation by a fellow senator, to assist you in a future bid for higher office.

28. No one on my campaign contacted Canada about NAFTA. Not exactly. The canadian government has published the names and a memo of the conversation your campaign had with them.

29. I am tough on terrorism. Not exactly. You missed the Iran Resolution vote on terrorism and your good friend Ali Abunimah supports the destruction of Israel

30. I want all votes to count. Not exactly. You said, "Let the delegates decide."

31. I want Americans to decide. Not exactly. You sem to prefer caucuses that limit the vote and confuse the voters.

32. I passed 900 bills in the state senate. Not exactly. You passed 26, which you did not write yourself.

33. I believe in fairness, not tactics. Not exactly. You used tactics to keep Alice Palmer from running against you.

34. I don't take PAC money. Not exactly. Not in small amounts anyway.

35. I don't have lobbyists. Not exactly. Only 47 of them at latest count.

So there is the gist of the e-mail. Take it for what it is worth. By the way, there are sources given in the e-mail for a great deal of this. Most of this I was already aware of, some was brand new to me.

One little misstatement (where have I heard that term used before?) might be overlooked, but this seems to be a pattern here. Old Abe must be rolling, no more like spinning, in his grave.